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Scotsburn “Popsicle Plant” SOLD
130 Station Street, Saint John, New Brunswick
The Scotsburn Frozen Novelty plant on Station Street across from Harbour Station has a new owner. Commercial Properties Limited already owned the land on either side of the property so it’s no surprise that they had an interest. Paul Moore, VP of Commercial Properties explained “Commercial Properties Limited is a commercial real estate company with a desire to do new development. The ability to assemble substantially sized parcels of land is key to being ready to pursue opportunities when the timing is right.” A recent example of this is the new liquor store. Commercial Properties had acquired the parking lot at the corner of Wellington and Union in 2014 which meant they were well positioned to respond to the NB Liquor Corporation RFP.
Commercial Properties has been working on plans to demolish the Station Street building. “There’s a lot of concrete & rebar in there” said Erica Gorman, an engineer with Commercial Properties. “Taking the building down is not a simple exercise.” The building is slated for the wrecking ball in the near future.
Stephanie Turner was the listing agent.
Former “Freddy’s Frenchys” building SOLD
303 Westmorland Road, Saint John
After more than 2 years on the market, 303 Westmorland Road has traded and people can expect to see some activity there in the coming months. The building took longer than expected to sell. One of the main factors that was discouraging buyers was that the spot zoning only allowed for “used clothing sales” meaning that any other use needed to apply for a rezoning/variance.
Once Collins Tours was successful in getting the property rezoned for their use, they purchased the building. “I really liked the attraction of this building for more than one reason” said Greg Collins. “The location of the building was key, remaining in the east side was important since our office has been in the east side of Saint John for 15 plus years, the layout of the building being open concept, the overall improvements made to the building, and investment opportunity of owning vs leasing a property.”
Collins also shared the following message, “In the end I want to thank the previous owner for his help and patience, Gary and Stephanie for their patience, and the city of Saint John for the approval of the zoning. Most importantly, Collins Tours & Consulting Ltd wishes to thank our past, present, and future support over the past years of business to make this happen in our home city.”
Stephanie Turner was the listing agent and Gary Vincent. RE/MAX represented the buyer.
Loyalist City Brewery now brewing beer steeped in history.
60 Water Street, Saint John, NB (with before and after photos!)
“When we took the space over it was pretty rough. It took some hard work and elbow grease to get the space ready for brewing but we are thrilled with the end result.” says Mark McGraw, part owner and brewer.
The space had great bones with some exposed brick walls and one stone wall but what really attracted these young brewers to the space was the garage door. On nice days they’re going to throw open the overhead door and welcome everyone in. “We are well positioned to serve thirsty cruise ship passengers” said McGraw. Loyalist City Brewery will be one of the first businesses they will come across as they start touring the uptown and with the garage door open it should be very inviting for them to step in. “We’re already brewing a beer called “Parrtown Pale Ale” that has a Saint John story to it and I think tourists will enjoy hearing how the beer is connected to our heritage”.
Want to read more about this original Saint John beer? Visit their website loyalistcitybrewing.ca or follow them on FACEBOOK.
Want to try their beer now? It’s on tap at Cask & Kettle and Five & Dime. Their brew will also be featured at NB Liquor next week in the Growler program.
Stephanie represented both the Landlord and the Tenant in the lease transaction.
NOTE: 60 Water Street is the back side of 125 Prince William Street a.k.a. “Le Faubourg” or originally known as “The Bank of New Brunswick”. The building is currently listed FOR SALE. Buy it now as an investment with this very cool tenant in place!
Le Faubourg sees another big price reduction. Now $749,000
125 Prince William Street “Le Faubourg”, Saint John, NB
$899,000 NEW PRICE $749,000 SOLD
Ideal candidate for redevelopment! Uptown heritage with many infrastucture upgrades including sprinkers throughout, roof (Nov 2011), some repointing of brick, amost all new windows. New 400 amp 120 volt electrical entrance installed with updated wiring in 2007. Building has been converted to natural gas. Commonly, heritage buildings such as this one in the uptown core are utilized for commercial and business related enterprises. The main floor would typically be devoted to retail with the upper floors being utilized for offices and/or residential. View of Harbour on Water Street side of building.
Gross building area 17,467 square feet.
This block of Prince William Street, between Princess and Duke, has undergone (2014-2015) a complete restoration including street resurfacing, granite curbing, landscaping and decorative lighting. Close to shopping, hotels and cruise ship terminals.
For more information and interior photos click HERE
#GrowSJ Update. Top 3 salient points related to commercial real estate
Mayor Don Darling just shared a report by the city’s Commissioner of Growth and Community Development Services.
Here are the top 3 salient points relating to commercial real estate:
- Major project construction accounted for more than half of the 80 million dollars of construction projects in 2016. Notably phases one and two of the IOL home office project, the new Uptown Liquor store and retail expansion in East Point, McAllister Mall and in Millidgeville.
- Another portion of the $80 Million included re-investment in the City’s Heritage districts including major renovations to the Imperial Theatre and 20 other smaller heritage renovation projects. The City’s heritage districts were funded by the city’s heritage incentive program.
- There is 137,493 square meters (that’s almost 34 acres!) of vacant land in our prime central neighbourhood, at rates a fraction of the cost of Canada’s major cities, and ready to be developed. The land is a mix of commercial & residential. The map below shows some of the commercial opportunities.
Uptown In-Fill Map. Vacant Land Highlighted in Red
READ MAYOR DON DARLING’S ENTIRE UPDATE HERE (3 minute read)
Moosehead & Cox were two most popular stories of 2016
Now that we’re in to 2017, I wanted to thank everyone who has visited my website/blog in 2016. The site got a ton more traffic last year, hitting a new annual record of 43,696 views (up from 25,546 in 2016).
The single best day was June 1st. The story that day was “Moosehead Should be at the Head of King Street #91king” with 6,679 views. UPDATE: Unfortunately, as most of you have heard Moosehead’s subsequent plans to build on the waterfront have been shelved. Maybe that means that they will reconsider #91king! If you missed the original story you can find it HERE
My next most-read story of 2016 was on April 27th and it was “Cox Electronic Winding Down Retail Business” with 5,298 views. UPDATE: The story said that the store would be open until the end of 2016 but wound up closing several weeks earlier. This showcase property is for sale or lease. Did you miss the story in April? You can read it HERE
Where do you think these “views” come from? Canada and the US rank 1 & 2 but would you have guessed that France is 3rd? Next come South Korea & Barbados. See chart to the right for the top 10 countries of original of traffic to www.SJcommercialRE.com
Thanks again for visiting and a big shout to www.huddle.today for picking up several of my stories in 2016. I’m looking forward to 2017 and what the Saint John Commercial Real Estate market has in store. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @steffturner
Buckley Building has new owners
82 Germain Street, Saint John, New Brunswick
View from roof. Photo Credit: Bob McVicar
The Buckley Building has been sold. The new owners intend to convert the top floor to residential for their personal use and add a rooftop patio. The building is a three storey brick Italianate-Style commercial building on the east side of Germain Street. The view from the roof affords a unique urban view directly down the newly renovated Grannan Lane as well as a view of the harbour.
The Buckley Building is significant as one of a collection of commercial, Italianate and Second Empire buildings that were built between 1877 and 1881 after the great fire.
The building is also significant because it housed the office of G. Ernest Fairweather from 1888 until 1920. G. E. Fairweather was a prominent architect and he designed many significant buildings in Saint John. He was originally associated with John Magee, as Magee and Fairweather, and in their office the plans were prepared for a great many of the buildings erected after the great fire in 1877. Source: historicplaces.ca
The new owners have renamed the building “The Fairweather”. You can like their page, see design concepts and follow their progress on FACEBOOK
Stephanie represented the seller & Bob McVicar of Exit Realty (now Sutton Realty!) represented the buyers.
CBC runs story on Acre Architects’ concept for #222water
The owners of #222water recently engaged local firm Acre Architects to provide concept drawings for the property. An engineering report conducted on the building identified that, structurally, the building could accommodate two additional floors and Acre took a very innovative approach to incorporating this in to their proposed design.
In the CBC interview Stephen Knopp of Acre suggests some uses could include a distillery, an “exploratorium” or science centre and/or event space to name a few.
222 Water Street is listed FOR SALE. For more information click HERE
WATCH/LISTEN to CBC story HERE >>> http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/805730883739
LEASED… last 2 units at Irving Millennium Drive development
8-10 Millennium Drive, Quispamsis, New Brunswick
Murphy’s Pharmacies of PEI are opening a location in Quispamsis under the Guardian Drugs banner. Murphy’s operates a chain of independent pharmacies and have been serving the health needs of communities across Prince Edward Island for 30 years. “We’ve leased the two remaining vacant units between Subway and House of Chan. One side will be a pharmacy and the other a medical clinic including after-hours clinic” said Jeff Murphy, Chief Financial Officer at Murphy’s Pharmacies. “We love the location. Being close to a growing residential area made a lot of sense for us.”
Stephanie Turner was the listing agent.
Something’s brewing at 60 Water Street
60 Water Street, Saint John, New Brunswick
Something’s brewing at 60 Water Street but it’s probably not what you’re thinking!
More excitement and suspense for uptown… A brand new business leased space today on Water Street just steps from the corner of Princess & Water. Watch for an announcement and new signage in the not-too-distant future!
Saint John Commercial Real Estate 